eastern, or
the weather extremity, it might have been of more than twice the usual
height; its length lay nearly east and west. In the centre of this
island, however, there was a singular formation of the rock, which
appeared to rise to an elevation of something like sixty or eighty feet,
making a sort of a regular circular mound of that height, which occupied
no small part of the widest portion of the island. Nothing like tree,
shrub, or grass, was visible, as the boat drew near enough to render
such things apparent. Of aquatic birds there were a good many: though
even they did not appear in the numbers that are sometimes seen in the
vicinity of uninhabited islands. About certain large naked rocks, at no
great distance however from the principal reef, they were hovering in
thousands.

At length the little dingui glided in quite near to the island. Mark was
at first surprised to find so little surf beating against even its
weather side, but this was accounted for by the great number of the
reefs that lay for miles without it; and, particularly, by the fact
that one line of rock stretched directly across this weather end,
distant from it only two cables' lengths, forming a pretty little sheet
of perfectly smooth water between it and the island. Of course, to do
this, the line of reef just mentioned must come very near the surface;
as in fact was the case, the rock rising so high as to be two or three
feet out of water on the ebb, though usually submerged on the flood. The
boat was obliged to pass round one end of this last-named reef, where
there was deep water, and then to haul its wind a little in order to
reach the shore.

It would be difficult to describe the sensations with which Mark first
landed. In approaching the place, both he and Bob had strained their
eyes in the hope of seeing some proof that their shipmates had been
there; but no discovery rewarded their search. Nothing was seen, on or
about the island, to furnish the smallest evidence that either of the
boats had touched it. Mark found that he was treading on naked rock when
he had landed, though the surface was tolerably smooth. The rock itself
was of a sort to which he was unaccustomed; and he began to suspect,
what in truth turned out on further investigation to be the fact, that
instead of being on a reef of coral, he was on one of purely volcanic
origin. The utter nakedness of the rock both surprised and grieved him.
On the reefs, in every directio